The True Story of Allan A Dale
by The Vicomtesse
Summary: Allan A Dale's story through the eyes of someone who knew him better than anyone else: his little sister.
1. Chapter 1

**This is my first attempt at fanfiction, so comments and suggestions are very welcome! And just so you know, I didn't include a lot of detail on purpose. I wanted this to be more like someone sitting at a camp fire and just telling a story like they actually would. Thank you for reading!**

As the years have gone by, many people have talked of Robin Hood and his adventures in Nottingham. They've gotten so embellished and exaggerated; he's become a legend akin to King Arthur. But what people don't seem to remember much is that like King Arthur, Robin Hood did not do his amazing deeds on his own. He had a band of loyal followers, his own version of the Round Table, and each of those people were good, honest, and loyal from beginning to end. They stood by Robin in every hour of his need.

All of them, that is, except for one. He has been all but forgotten by time, at least the man he truly was. One story I've recently heard has him down as a traveling minstrel who _entertained_ Robin Hood as well as fought with him.

I am going to record the true story of the man that was Allan A Dale, at least as I knew him, so that the stories will get it right. And I will tell you this right now, he was _not_ a minstrel.

People may ask why I claim to know the true story, what right I have to say that this record is the correct one. I did not fight with Robin Hood's gang, it's true, but I did know them all. I cooked a few of their meals, and shared a few of their fires for the night. But Allan is different. I knew him very, very well, and I don't want history to get him wrong. He was a good, loyal, and honest man, it just took him longer to figure that out than everyone else in that glorious gang of outlaws.

But I'm jumping ahead of myself. I suppose I should start at the beginning, when we were growing up. Because I'd known him since I was born. My name is Eleanor, and Allan A Dale was my older brother.

The A Dale's are originally from Rochdale, England. My father used to tell us that we were the first family in Rochdale, which is why we got the best last name. He was a very proud man, one who valued his family as his most prized possession. His children were a source of constant joy, and the only thing he wanted for us was to grow up, making an honest living and have a decent life. He wanted our last name to live forever, so that in the future there would be thousands of A Dale's walking around.

Our mother was also very proud of her children. She was a fierce believer in justice and honesty, but she was never very good at spotting lies. My brothers, Allan and Tom, realized this at an early age, and took full advantage of it. I usually ended up with the blame for their antics when it was just my mother they had to fool. They were always so much better than me at lying, and they knew it.

Despite the fact that our parents were good, honest people who valued integrity and dignity above everything else, we three kids found ways to get around them. Our father was a very strict disciplinarian, and when he caught one of us doing something wrong, we paid for it, especially my brothers. My father rarely struck me, but he had no qualms about bringing out the belt for Allan and Tom, which is why they always tried so desperately to lie.

I very distinctly remember the incident that led to Allan and me becoming friends. Before he pushed me into that lake, we had a very intense dislike for each other. To him I was the annoying little sister who insisted on tagging along, and to me he was the bossy older brother who never let me play. On this day I was seven years old, Tom was nearly ten, and Allan was eleven.

I had followed the boys to the lake near our village one day because I wanted to play with them. I hid in the bushes and watched as they pretended to be knights, jousting and sword fighting with long, thick sticks. When Allan threw his stick down and tackled Tom to the ground, I decided that was the right moment to step in.

Tom was very angry, calling Allan a cheater. But Allan didn't care at all, he just laughed and insisted that cheating was "the best way to win". I popped out of the bushes and gave them my opinion that cheating was a rotten thing to do, and that cheaters never really won their battles. Allan didn't say anything, he just laughed.

Tom stood up and said "Go home and do girly things, Ellie! You can't play with us!" I crossed my arms and stood my ground. I wanted to play knights too, no matter what they said.

Then Allan put his arm around me and said "nah, Tom, she can play with us. She can be the girl we're fighting over, yeah? She's got to be in some sort of danger though, or else it's no fun." As he talked, he was slowly leading me to the lake.

At this point, I should have realized what he was planning to do. But I was just thrilled that for once, I would get to play with my brothers. But I wasn't completely stupid. I remember saying something along the lines of "but I want to be a knight, not a lady! Besides, I'm not in any danger."

Allan just grinned, and then pushed me into the water. When I came up, both of my brothers were paralyzed with laughter. I was so angry! I warned them that I was going to tell father about this, but they were laughing so loud they didn't hear me. So I marched home, dripping as I went.

Our father was a blacksmith, and his work room was the one place I was never allowed to go. He said it was much too dangerous for a little girl, and I believed him. I was always afraid of the place, with the loud clanking of metal on metal and the roar of the fires. But it just shows how very angry I was with Allan that I ran straight in to find my father.

He was furious when I told him what had happened. He marched out of his shop towards the lake, and came back a half hour later, dragging by brothers by the ears. He sat them down and gave them a whipping they would never forget. My mother was just as angry, and she pampered me for the rest of the day. I felt pretty fantastic about the whole thing, especially when Allan and Tom were sent to bed without supper and I got more food.

That night, however, I woke up feeling very, very sick. I crawled over to my parent's bed and said "Mother, I don't feel very good". That's the second to last thing I remember clearly for a while. The lake water had made me very sick. I had a burning fever and my body hurt all over.

But the other thing I remember clearly is this: Allan kneeling next to me, praying. "Please, God, don't let Ellie die. I swear on my life that if she lives, I will protect her forever, just please, please, let her live!" he pleaded. He continued like that for a long time, long enough that I feel asleep again before he finished.

Eventually I recovered, but I was weak for a long time, and Allan stayed by my side for all of it. He helped me walk around, he helped feed me and care for me and he told me funny stories and jokes to keep me entertained. I never did figure out if it was the guilt of having caused me illness that kept him by my side or the fear of almost losing me, but I don't really care now. He and I were friends from that moment onward. He never told me I couldn't play again, and as we grew older we became very close. He protected me from anything he thought would be a danger, to the point of it almost being annoying. I was never as close to Tom, but we were still happy children.

We loved to pull pranks. We became known as the menacing A Dale kids who liked to fool around and would never amount to anything. We drove our parents crazy with the amount of trouble we got into. Every time the bailiff escorted us home, we got a good whipping, or at least a very stern lecture. But the next day we'd be up in the rafters of the barn, planning our next scheme.

Things changed when Allan turned fifteen. Up until that point, our father had allowed Allan to run around with Tom and I, but now he said it was time for his oldest son to learn how to be a man. So father took Allan on as an apprentice in his blacksmith shop.

Allan absolutely hated it. He dodged working at every opportunity, making excuses and lies to our father. That lasted for two years, father trying to force Allan to grow up and learn the family trade, and Allan ducking and dodging him at every turn. In frustration, father gave up, telling him that he could be whatever he wanted to be, as long as he learned some kind of trade. Next father tried the same thing with Tom, and it failed just as badly. Tom was worse than Allan though, outright refusing to do anything around the shop.

It all came to an end one evening. Allan hadn't been around for days, and Tom had just been escorted home by the bailiff again, this time for trying to pickpocket the owner of the local tavern. My father was absolutely furious. He yelled that they needed to grow up and become men, and that he wasn't having this sinful laziness in his family. Neither of my brothers would say a word, which frustrated my father even more.

Finally he sat down and simply said "Sons, you can either find a trade and become honest men, or leave this house. I will not have this anymore. I expect you to either be out finding work or gone for good when I wake up in the morning. It's your choice." And with that, he went to bed. My mother, who would never cross my father, hugged her sons, and then followed her husband.

I watched from my bed roll as Allan and Tom talked very quietly, trying in vain to hear their conversation. I did not want them to leave. I hoped with all my heart that they decided to stay with us. I couldn't imagine our home without them.

But they did leave. They stood up, packed the few things they owned, and headed out the door. I ran after them, desperate to stop them, or to go with them. I remember catching them up and pleading with them to stay. Tom wouldn't even look at me, he just kept walking. But Allan stopped and said "Ellie, you have to go back. You can't come with us, and I mean it. Mum and Dad still need you, and you know that."

"But I will miss you, Allan. You swore to protect me! To God! You can't just leave!" I started to cry.

Allan simply wrapped his arms around me and said "I know. But you're almost a woman Eleanor. Soon you'll have a husband to protect you." He looked at my face for a moment, and then said "I'll miss you lots, Ellie. And I promise I'll come back someday, alright? I love you, little sister." And then he picked up his bag and walked away.

I cried for days. Father wouldn't say anything about them, and Mother kept quiet about it too. But as years past, we learned to live without them.

My mother never saw her sons again. She got very sick one winter, and try as I might I couldn't help her. I kept hoping that if she could make it to Spring she would get better, and everything would be alright. But she didn't make it. In her last few days, she kept asking when Allan and Tom were coming to see her. My father and I did not have an answer, and eventually we just told her that they would be coming soon. This always gave her great peace. She would smile and say "my boys are coming. They are coming to see me, I know it."

When she said this, I wanted to tear my brothers apart for leaving us. I was so angry at everything that was happening. It was not fair that my mother had to suffer so. She spent her life helping other people, but it just didn't matter. God was going to take her away from us, and my stupid brothers would never even know.

After she died, my father was a different man. He no longer laughed, or smiled, or teased. He went to work, and then he got drunk. Sometimes he'd come home, but most of the time he just went to the tavern and spent all his money.

It was during this time that he decided that I needed to marry. I had never really found anyone I wanted to marry, let alone anyone I loved. I was repulsed by the idea of an arranged marriage, but my father simply did not care. He found a man who was willing to pay to marry me, and that was enough for him.

When I first met John At-wood, I actually liked him. I didn't think it would be horrible to be married to him. So I agreed to the arrangement, and the betrothal was announced. A month later, I was married in the Rochdale church. And it was soon after that that I discovered the monster I'd really married.

I will not go into details about my years of being married to John At-wood. That is not the point of this story. I will just say that he made me miserable. I was still very young, but I had no hope for any kind of happiness and I hated him, deeply.

Now my husband was actually quite rich. He was a wool merchant with a large house and several servants and men that worked for him. His greatest ambition was to be granted title and lands, so he saved money to try and bribe Prince John into making him a noble. When he finally felt he had enough, he took a trip to London. It was then that I decided to run. I had had enough of him

So I ran. Stole a horse and headed north, heading towards Nottinghamshire, because I thought it was the last place my husband would look for me.

I traveled for a few days, only stopping for brief periods of time, changing horses at every stop. I didn't know that John's men were pursuing me until I got to Sherwood Forest. All of a sudden they were right behind me, and they were coming fast. They chased me into the forest, along the Great North Road.

It was on this road that I first met Robin Hood and his gang.


	2. Chapter 2

I urged my horse to go faster, while my husband's men yelled jeers at my back. I snuck a glance behind me, and immediately turned back around in terror when I saw how close they were.

Suddenly, out of no where I was knocked off my horse by something I couldn't see, and then a rope twisted underneath my arms and pulled me off the ground. _What on earth…?_ I thought in panic as I swung back and forth. But this mystery trap soon became the least of my problems.

My husband's men were beneath me in a moment. They were not inclined to cut me down quickly, so they got off their horses and started making all the jokes and taunts their limited intelligences would allow.

However, while they were busy being idiots, I could see shadows creeping through the trees towards us. I was sure they were bandits, but at the moment I would rather have dealt with outlaws than with my husband, so I didn't say anything.

I watched as the shadows became men and jumped out of the trees, surrounding the men below me. There were five bandits, and only three of my husband's oafs, so the fight didn't last long. Soon all the men John At-wood had sent were disarmed, on their knees, with their hands in the air.

The man who appeared to be the leader of the bandits, a handsome man with long brown hair and half of a scruffy beard on his face looked up at me and said, "It seems to me that you may be in need of some help!"

"Obviously. But what would you want in return?" I called down

Another man with a head wrap and a round shield looked up hopefully and yelled, "Can you cook?"

"Sure! Just get me down!" The ropes were starting to hurt.

The leader laughed as he turned to my husband's men and, knocking an arrow in his curved bow, said "Gentlemen! You are going to stop chasing this woman, leave this forest, and never return. If we ever see your faces here again, you won't get so lucky! Now go!" He shot an arrow between the toes of one of the men, and all of them got up and ran for it, cursing as they went.

One of the bandits, a young man with a large axe strapped to his back, lowered me to the ground and cut me loose.

"What is your name?" asked the leader.

"Eleanor. And yours, sir bandit?" I replied, brushing dirt off my dress

"Bandit? We just saved your life!"

"That doesn't mean you are not a bandit."

The man honestly looked offended, as if I'd called him a very bad name. "I am Robin Hood, and these are my men." he said, gesturing towards the other four people surrounding me.

"And we are certainly not bandits!" added the man with the shield

I'd heard the name Robin Hood before. Everyone in England had. He was the leader of a gang of outlaws that robbed the rich and fought against the sheriff to protect the poor. Of course all the stories I'd heard had been exaggerated, but that didn't change the fact that this man was the champion of England.

"Ah, Robin Hood. Well, not bandits then, just outlaws. I am sorry that I have no money to give you, but perhaps I can find another way to repay you?" I turned to the man with the shield and said "maybe I can cook a meal?"

Robin Hood still looked offended, but the man with the shield looked at me like I'd been sent from heaven. He turned to Robin and said "Master, I think we should let her cook. It's only fair, seeing how we saved her life…"

"No, thank you. The camp is secret, and we don't need your payment." He said shortly as he started to walk away.

"Wait." A deep voice came from behind me. I turned around and saw a very large man with long, wild hair and a thick beard. "Robin, we cannot leave her in the forest by herself!" This must be Robin Hood's giant of an outlaw, Little John. He was the only one I knew by name from the stories.

Robin Hood stopped and sighed, and then looked at me and said "Where were you headed?"

"Nottingham, I think. My plan was to get a job working as a servant or an assistant, so if you know anyone that could help me, I would really appreciate it." I said.

Suddenly the high pitched voice with a strange accent chimed in. "We could blindfold her and take her to camp, and then escort her to Nottingham tomorrow when we do our rounds." I turned and to my surprise saw a woman, and not _just_ a woman, a Saracen! Her hair and skin were very dark, and her accent was absolutely ridiculous. I wondered what she was doing so very far from home, fighting with a bunch of men.

Robin looked conflicted for a moment, but then he nodded after seeing the pleading face of the man with the head cloth and shield.

The outlaw with the axe, who was the only one who hadn't yet spoken, tied a cloth around my eyes and took my hand to lead me through the forest.

After about half an hour of stumbling over roots and rocks, leaning on the man with the axe, I was fairly tired, but I had also learned some things by listening to their conversation.

First of all, I learned their names. I was right, the giant was John Little, and the man with the head cloth and shield was called Much. The Saracen woman was named something that sounded like Jack, which I thought was odd until she spelled it out for me later: Djaq, which made a lot more sense. And the man with the axe was called Will.

I also learned that there was another member of the group who had missed the alarm because he wasn't in the camp. I didn't catch his name, but none of them seemed to know where he had gone, and it wasn't the first time he'd disappeared without an explanation. That sounded sort of suspicious to me, but I figured they knew him better than I did, so I dismissed it.

Finally, we stopped walking. I heard a loud creak, and then I was herded up a slope. I heard another creak behind me, and then a loud slamming noise, which I assumed it was some kind of door closing.

Then I heard another sound that made my mind reel. It was a voice, saying "Well, it's about time! Who's the girl?"

I knew that voice. Very well. It was Allan, my lying, cheating, idiotic older brother.

Will took off the blindfold as Robin said "Allan, this is Eleanor. Where have you been?"

But Allan didn't get a chance to answer. As soon as I could see him, I sprang forward and slapped him in the face with as much force as I could muster. He fell to the ground and I jumped on him, punching every bit that I could reach. "YOU STUPID, LYING, IDIOTIC, ROTTEN-!" I bellowed as he tried to protect his face. Before I could thoroughly pulverize him, Will and Little John grabbed my arms and dragged me away

Allan crawled a safe distance before getting up and yelling "What are you-?" He stopped and looked at my face properly. "Ellie? What-? How-? What are you doing here?"

Everyone looked at Allan, dumbfounded. I was fuming, still trying to get away from Will and John. "You know her?" asked Much.

"Yeah, I do." Allan said weakly. "She's… she's my little sister."

There was a moment of silence as the gang absorbed this. Then Will spoke for the first time: "Well Allan, we seem to run into your family a lot. How many more siblings have you got?" At this the rest of the gang smiled and relaxed a bit. John and Will cautiously let go of me, but I didn't feel like punching him anymore.

So this was where he'd been hiding. In Nottinghamshire, being one of Robin Hood's dashing outlaws. Having grand adventures and risking life and limb for poor people he'd never even met, while my mother died and my father turned into a drunk and I was married to a monster. I wanted him to understand what I had gone through. I wanted him to suffer our mother's death and our father's downfall as I had to suffer. I wanted to make him pay.

Allan relaxed a bit when he realized I wasn't going to attack him again, but he still looked nervous, refusing to meet my glaring eyes as he said to Will "Just her now. Me, Tom, and Ellie, the three A Dale's."

That brought me out of my fury for a moment. '_Just her now'_? What did that mean? Where was Tom?

"I think, brother, that we have much to talk about." I said.

"Yeah, I think we do." He muttered quietly.


	3. Chapter 3

Allan led me up some stairs to the top of their little fort. The others had the grace to pretend not to be listening by making a lot of noise.

We sat down, and I folded my arms and glared at him. He sheepishly avoided my gaze.

"Where have you been?" I demanded, breaking the uneasy silence.

"You know, around…" he said weakly. "I've been with Robin for a while." He added.

"Do you have _any_ idea what I've been through? How could you be so selfish? You and Tom just left! And didn't come back! Not even when mum died and dad turned into a drunk and I was married-" I stopped as tears stung my eyes. I had promised myself never to cry after my marriage. I would not start now.

"Mum's dead?" Allan asked, stunned

"Yes Allan. Mum's dead. And you don't even care, do you?"

"Don't say that, Ellie. Please don't." he looked at the ground, almost like he was ashamed.

There was a moment of silence, broken when I said "Where's Tom?"

"Tom's dead too." I took a moment to process that. Tom is dead too. That was a shock. Out of my family, I'd always thought that Tom would live the longest since he could talk his way out of anything. I took a moment to mourn.

Allan looked up and stared me straight in the eye. "D'you think my life's been easy? That I've just been sittin' here doing nothing?"

"Oh, do not complain to me how _hard_ your life has been, Allan A Dale! It must be so very difficult to be loved and adored by a bunch of strangers and peasants. I can't even imagine the struggles you must have faced in robbing fat rich people. Tell me, how much does Robin pay you? You must be rich by now. Oh, such a very hard life!" I raved.

He looked stunned. "It's nothin' like that at all! It's dangerous, what with the Sheriff tryin' to kill us every time we go outside the forest, and guards chasing us all time. And we don't keep any of the money we steal; it all goes to the poor. All of it!" I sensed that that was a sore point with Allan, not keeping any of the money.

He glared at me. "When'd you get so bitter, eh?"

"Oh, I don't know Allan. Maybe it was when I had to hear my dying mother ask every day when her boys were coming to see her. Or, maybe it was when I had to clean up my father's vomit off the floor after he'd been drinking all night. Or maybe it was when my husband beat me so hard that I couldn't move the next day. Yeah, I think that's enough to turn someone bitter, don't you?" I spat.

His face softened. "Ellie, I'm so sorry. I didn't know. I didn't know…" he looked like he was about to cry. Suddenly, my anger vanished. He looked miserable.

"How did Tom die?"

"He was hanged by the sheriff. For bein' one of Robin Hood's men. Funny thing is he wasn't even part of the gang."

"Then why did the sheriff think he was?"

"After Tom an' me left, we just sort of traveled around. Takin' odd jobs, stealin' whatever we couldn't afford. One morning I woke up and Tom was gone. He'd taken my horse, my sword, my purse, everything. Then I met up with Robin and started in his gang. Stopped lying to get out of things, and learned how to be a proper person."

"You? Robin made you stop lying? Is he secretly a god?" I teased

"Yeah, I know, it's amazin'. " He grinned. It felt good to tease him again. All of a sudden, I realized how much I had missed him.

"Anyway, we found Tom about to be horsewhipped for stealing a necklace. Robin saved him, gave him a chance to be part of the gang. He failed, miserably. I tried to reason with him, to get him to stop being an idiot, but I woke up the next morning and he was gone. He'd stolen some of our stuff too, including our tags. So the Sheriff caught him and thought he'd got some of Robin's men. Robin tried to save him, but the Sheriff tricked us. They were dead before we even got there." He looked at his hands.

"Poor Tom." I said quietly. "He was always an idiot, but he didn't deserve that."

"No, he didn't."

There was silence again, but this time it was sad, not angry.

"So, you got married, eh?" Allan asked, shifting uncomfortably.

"Yeah, to John At-wood."

"Why'd you marry him? I remember him, he's a prat!"

"He paid for me."

"And dad still let you marry him?"

"Dad changed after mum died. He didn't really care about much of anything except the drink. It was money to buy more. So yeah, I married him." I said somberly

"So how'd you end up here then?"

"I ran away from John. I just couldn't take it anymore. My plan is to find a job in Nottingham and pray that he'll never find me."

"Yeah, well, you've got me to protect you now. I made a promise, and I'm not gonna break it again." He said, putting his arm around me.

"I've missed you, Allan." I said quietly

"Yeah, I've missed you too."


End file.
